Method for delivering defibrillation energy

ABSTRACT

An automatic external defibrillator (“AED”) is described that includes a high voltage delivery circuit for producing a biphasic electrical pulse to defibrillate a patient. The delivery circuit includes a plurality of capacitors controlled by IGBTs. The bridge circuit has four SCRs which are selectively switched to produce, for example, a biphasic steering of current.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/239,010 filed on Jan. 28, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,039.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for delivering electrical energy produced by a defibrillator to a patient experiencing ventricular fibrillation (“VF”). This invention provides a way to use switching devices, with a voltage rating lower than the overall voltage used by the system, to control the voltage delivery and facilitate voltage sharing. This invention may be used with either implantable or external defibrillators.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Each day thousands of Americans are victims of cardiac emergencies. Cardiac emergencies typically strike without warning, oftentimes striking people with no history of heart disease. The most common cardiac emergency is sudden cardiac arrest (“SCA”). It is estimated that more than 1000 people per day are victims of SCA in the United States alone.

SCA occurs when the heart stops pumping blood. Usually SCA is due to abnormal electrical activity in the heart, resulting in an abnormal rhythm (arrhythmia). One such abnormal rhythm, VF, is caused by abnormal and very fast electrical activity in the heart. During VF the heart cannot pump blood effectively. Because blood may no longer be pumping effectively during VF, the chances of surviving decrease with time after the onset of the emergency. Brain damage can occur after the brain is deprived of oxygen for four to six minutes.

VF may be treated by applying an electric shock to the patient's heart through the use of a defibrillator. The shock clears the heart of the abnormal electrical activity (in a process called “defibrillation”) by depolarizing a critical mass of myocardial cells to allow spontaneous organized myocardial depolarization to resume.

External defibrillators send electrical pulses to the patient's heart through electrodes applied to the patient's torso. External defibrillators are typically located and used in hospital emergency rooms, operating rooms, and emergency medical vehicles. Of the wide variety of external defibrillators currently available, automatic and semi-automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) are becoming increasingly popular because they can be used by relatively inexperienced personnel. Such defibrillators can also be especially lightweight, compact, and portable. One drawback to current defibrillator designs is the limited availability of high-voltage semiconductors to control voltage delivery. Although SCRs can tolerate a wide range of voltages, they do not turn of readily, which is a desirable feature when delivering a defibrillation energy pulse.

What is needed, therefore, is a defibrillator which can use a collection of widely available switching devices, which have a higher on/off responsiveness, to deliver a high voltage pulse, wherein the switching devices have a voltage rating lower than the overall voltage delivered by the system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An electrical energy delivery circuit is provided for defibrillating a patient experiencing VF. The delivery circuit includes a storage circuit for storing electrical energy and having first and second terminals. A steering circuit is coupled with the first terminal of the storage circuit. The steering circuit is for coupling with the patient to transfer the electrical energy stored in the storage circuit to the patient. The storage circuit is comprised of a plurality of series capacitors which are controlled by a series of lower voltage switching devices connected in parallel to the capacitors. The lower voltage switching devices are, for example, IGBTs. By providing lower voltage switching devices, a number of advantages are achieved over conventional defibrillator circuit designs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram depicting an external defibrillator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram depicting a high-voltage delivery circuit included in the defibrillator of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram depicting details of a high-voltage delivery circuit employing sequential switching of series IGBTs to get higher voltage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Currently available external defibrillators provide either a monophasic or biphasic electrical pulse to a patient through electrodes applied to the chest. Monophasic defibrillators deliver an electrical pulse of current in one direction. Biphasic defibrillators deliver an electrical pulse of current first in one direction and then in the opposite direction. When delivered external to the patient, these electrical pulses are high energy (typically in the range of 30 J to 360 J). This invention may be employed by defibrillators that generate monophasic, biphasic or multiphasic waveforms. Additionally this invention may be employed by defibrillators that allow the user to select the waveform type. Finally, this invention may be employed in either external or implantable defibrillators.

Defibrillators employing a monophasic waveform are well known in the art. While this invention may be used with a defibrillator employing a monophasic waveform, it is believed that the solution described herein is primarily beneficial for defibrillators that deliver biphasic or multiphasic waveforms. An example of a circuit used for discharging a capacitor delivering a monophasic waveform is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,773 (Suzuki et al.).

In accordance with the present invention, embodiments of defibrillators are provided that have a high voltage bridge circuit using only four switching elements to steer the biphasic pulse. In the following description, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. It will be clear, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention can be practiced without these details. In other instances, well-known circuits have not been shown in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the various embodiments of the invention. Also not presented in any great detail are those well-known control signals and signal timing protocols associated with the internal operation of defibrillators.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram depicting a defibrillator or AED 10 having a delivery circuit 12, capable of delivering high or low voltage, depending upon the application, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The AED 10 includes a power supply 14, which is powered by an energy source such as a removable battery 16 and provides power to other components of the AED. A microcontroller or processor 18 controls the operation of the various components of the AED 10. The high-voltage delivery circuit 12 delivers a pulse of electrical energy to a patient via an electrode connector or interface 20 and electrodes 22.

An electrocardiogram (ECG) circuit 24 acquires and processes the patient's ECG signals through the electrodes 22 and sends the signals to the processor 18 via a system gate array 26. The system gate array 26 is a custom application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) integrating many of the defibrillator functions (including user interface control and many of the internal functions) and interfacing the processor 18 with other components of the AED 10. Providing the separate system gate array or ASIC 26 allows the processor 18 to focus on other tasks. Of course, the functionality of the ASIC 26 could be included within the operations performed by the processor 18, or could be replaced by discrete logic circuit components or a separately dedicated processor.

The AED 10 also includes a memory device 30 (such as a removable Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (“PCMCIA”) card or magnetic tape), and user interface components such as a microphone 32, an audio speaker 34, an LCD display panel 36, and a set of push-button controls 38. Those skilled in the art will understand that a number of other components are included within the AED 10 (e.g., a system monitor and associated status indicators), but are not shown in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of embodiments of the invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the high-voltage delivery circuit 12 includes a number of functional circuit blocks which are both monitored and controlled by the ASIC 26. A high-voltage charging circuit 40, such as a flyback power supply, responds to one or more control signals issued by the ASIC 26 and generates electrical energy for provision to an energy storage circuit 42. The storage circuit 42 stores the electrical energy for subsequent delivery to the patient. A discharge control circuit 44 controls discharge of the energy stored in the storage circuit 42 to an energy transfer or steering circuit 46 through a protection circuit 48. The steering circuit 46 in turn delivers the electrical energy to the patient via the connector 20 and electrodes 22 (shown in FIG. 1). The steering circuit 46 may deliver the electrical energy to the patient with a single polarity (e.g., a monophasic pulse) or with an alternating polarity (e.g., a biphasic or multiphasic pulse), as required by the desired implementation.

The protection circuit 48 functions to limit energy delivery from the storage circuit 42 to the steering circuit 46 (and hence to the patient) and to discharge or otherwise disarm the storage circuit 42 in the event of a fault condition. The protection circuit 48 operates to limit the time-rate-of-change of the current flowing through the bridge circuit. A monitor circuit 50 senses operations of both the protection circuit 48 and the steering circuit 46 and reports the results of such monitoring to the ASIC 26. The above-described operations of the discharge control circuit 44, the steering circuit 46, and the protection circuit 48 are controlled by a drive circuit 52 issuing a plurality of drive signals. Operation of the drive circuit 52 is, in turn, controlled by one or more control signals provided by the ASIC 26.

In FIG. 3, the storage circuit 42 is two series-connected capacitors (or multiple capacitor units) 110, 112, with each having a suitable capacitance of approximately 200 μF and are capable of regularly and reliably storing energy at approximately 1200 V. The discharge control circuit 44 includes a series of lower voltage switching devices. As shown in FIG. 3, the lower voltage switching device is, for example, an upper IGBT 114 (“IGBT_(U)”) that has its collector connected to the positive terminal of the upper capacitor 110 at node 64. The emitter of the IGBT_(U) 114 is coupled through a diode 116 to a node 118 between the capacitors 110, 112. The discharge control circuit 44 also includes a lower IGBT 120 (“IGBT_(L)”) that has its collector connected to the emitter of IGBT_(U) 114 and the cathode of the diode 116 at a node 122. The emitter of IGBT_(L) 120 is connected to ground potential.

The control terminal or gate of IGBT_(L) 120 receives an IGBT drive signal produced by the drive circuit 52 (shown in FIG. 2) to selectively switch IGBT_(L) 120 on and off. A power supply 124 applies a voltage through a diode 126 to the control terminal or gate of IGBT_(U) 114. A suitable power supply 124 could be energized by the high voltage charger 40 (shown in FIG. 2), such as by tapping a primary winding in a high voltage flyback power supply. A suitable DC voltage level provided by the power supply 124 is approximately 20 V. A voltage regulating element, such as a Zener diode 128 is coupled between the gate and the emitter of IGBT_(U) 114, to prevent any unduly elevated potential differences. A resistor 130 is also connected between the gate and the emitter of IGBT_(U) 114 to enforce the switching off of IGBT_(U). A suitable choice for each of the diodes 116 and 126 shown in FIG. 3 is a N25FG diode. A suitable choice for the Zener diode 128 is an SM8J20A diode, and a suitable resistance value for the resistor 130 is approximately 100 Ω.

The advantage of using a collection of lower voltage switching device, such as an IGBT, is that a collection of widely available switching devices, which have a higher on/off responsiveness, can be used to deliver a high-voltage pulse. Furthermore, the voltage rating of the switching device can have a lower overall rating than the overall voltage delivered by the defibrillator.

The protection circuit 48 of FIG. 2 is shown as three distinct subcircuits—namely, a disarm circuit 66, a protection resistor 68, and a snubber circuit 70. The disarm circuit 66 includes disarm resistor 72 (with a suitable resistance value being approximately 10 Ω) and a silicon-controlled rectifier switch (SCR) 74. The disarm resistor 72 and SCR 74 are connected in series between the positive terminal 64 and a negative terminal or node 77 of the energy storage circuit 42. If a fault condition is detected, the disarm SCR 74 can be switched on and the energy stored in the energy storage circuit 42 substantially dissipated in the disarm resistor 72. The disarm SCR 74 is selectively switched on by a disarm signal drive provided by the drive circuitry 52 (shown in FIG. 2).

The protection resistor 68 is in series with the snubber circuit 70 between node 77 and node 102. The protection resistor 68 limits maximum current flow, with a suitable resistance value being in the range of approximately 3-5 Ω. The currents associated with patient defibrillation are such that a significantly smaller resistor is desirable for current monitoring For example, the monitor circuitry 50 (FIG. 2) could monitor the voltage drop across a 0.05 Ω resistor (not shown) during patient defibrillation to provide information to the ASIC 26 concerning defibrillation current.

Operation of the snubber circuit 70 is described in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,953, the specification of which is incorporated herein.

The energy steering circuit 46 is of an “H-bridge” configuration, with four switching elements. The steering circuit 46 includes an upper-left (UL) switching element, such as SCR_(UL) 90, and an upper-right (UR) switching element, such as SCR_(UR) 92. The anode of each of SCR_(UL) 90 and SCR_(UR), 92 is connected to a reference voltage source, such as ground potential, in series with R_(SHUNT) at an upper terminal or node 94. The cathode of each of SCR_(UR) 90 and SCR_(UL) 92 is connected to a respective one of two patient terminals 96 (which, in turn, are coupled with the connector 20 and a respective electrode 22 of FIG. 1). The control terminal or gate of each of SCR_(UR) 90 and SCR_(UR) 92 receives an UL or UR drive signal produced by the drive circuit 52 (shown in FIG. 2) to selectively switch the SCRs on. A patient is represented by a resistor 104, shown in the electrical location of the patient during circuit operation. Additionally, a functional block representation of a portion of the ECG circuitry 24 of FIG. 1 is depicted.

The steering circuit 46 also includes a lower-left (LL) switching element, such as SCR_(LL) 98, and a lower-right (LR) switching element, such as SCR_(LR) 100. The anode of each of SCR_(LL) 98 and SCR_(LR) 100 is connected to one of the patient terminals 96. The cathode of each of SCR_(LL) 98 and SCR_(LR) 100 is connected to a lower terminal or node 102. The control terminal or gate of each of SCR_(LL) 98 and SCR_(LR) 100 receives a LL or LR drive signal from the drive circuit 52 (shown in FIG. 2) to selectively switch the SCRs on. As desired, the monitor circuitry 50 of FIG. 2 can advantageously sense the voltage of the node 102 and provide such information to the ASIC 26. Alternatively, time integration of monitored current flow can provide information corresponding to voltages during patient defibrillation.

The above-described control signals applied to the gates of the SCRs 90, 92, 98, 100 may each be suitably provided by a corresponding pulse transformer. The secondary coil of each of the transformers may be tied directly to the corresponding SCR gate, with the SCRs designed so that, once triggered and conducting, they will tolerate the short-circuit on the gate-cathode junction that occurs with transformer saturation.

The SCRs 90, 92, 98, 100 are preferably not of the type commonly used in power supplies or motor control, in which switching efficiency parameters such as forward voltage drop, fast switching times, reduced current tails, average current capability, average power dissipation, etc. are considered important. In implementations according to the present invention, such traditionally “good” parameters may be undesirable. For example, fast switching times can cause ground-bounce effects, which cause difficulties in control circuit design. The SCRs 90, 92, 98, 100 are used primarily to steer current, and do not experience the power dissipation associated with more conventional switching applications of SCRs. The SCRs 90, 92, 98, 100 steer a current pulse, and their ability to handle very low duty cycle transients is more important than average power dissipation efficiencies. Accordingly, conventional SCR design rules may be relaxed or otherwise modified, such as by allowing considerably lighter semiconductor doping levels, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

A variety of SCRs are suitable for use in this application provided the SCR has a 2500 V forward and reverse blocking voltage. Those skilled in the art will readily understand, however, that circuits may be constructed according to the present invention with components having other, suitably matched device parameters.

The operation of the circuit structure shown in FIG. 3 will now be described. The storage circuit 42 is charged by charging circuitry 40 (shown in FIG. 2), to, for example, approximately 2000 V. The voltage at the node 118 between the capacitors 110, 112 is approximately 1000 V. Correspondingly, the voltage at the node 122 and at the gate of the upper IGBT 114 are each approximately 1000 V, with the diode 126 then being reverse biased. Current conduction through the steering circuit 46 and the patient 104 is initiated by switching on IGBT_(L) 120, connecting the node 122 to ground potential. This pulls the voltage of the node 118 between the capacitors 110, 112 to approximately ground, thereby pulling the voltage of terminal 77 of the storage circuit 42 below ground. With the voltage of the node 122 now being essentially at ground, the diode 126 is forward biased and the power supply 124 applies its voltage to the gate of IGBT_(U) 114. Correspondingly, the positive terminal 64 of the storage circuit 42 is then coupled to ground potential, thereby lowering the voltage of node 118 below ground (and reverse biasing the diode 116) and further lowering the voltage of the negative terminal 76 below ground.

To commutate or otherwise interrupt current flow through the bridge circuit 46 in the patient 104, IGBT_(L) 120 is turned off. The voltage at the node 122 and at the gate of IGBT_(U) 114 then rises until the diode 126 is reverse biased, with the resistor 130 then coupling the gate and emitter of IGBT_(U) to turn it off.

Suitable IGBTs 114, 120 may be those currently readily available 1200 V IGBTs. IGBT_(L) 120 is suitably driven by an IGBT drive signal of approximately 10 V—a drive signal amplitude at which certain desired short circuit performance characteristics are guaranteed. In the event of a short circuit, a saturation detector coupled to node 122 will detect any unexpectedly large voltage drop across IGBT_(L) 120 to correspondingly initiate (after elapse of a predetermined time interval, such as 10 μs) the above-described operations to disarm the storage circuit 42.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many of the advantages associated with the circuits described above in connection with FIG. 3 may be provided by other circuit configurations. In particular, the storage circuit 42, the discharge control circuit 44, and the steering circuit 46 are substantially connected in series, and alternative ordering of these units may be found in other embodiments of the present invention.

It will be appreciated that, while specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Those skilled in the art will understand that a number of suitable circuits, other than those particular ones described above, can be adapted to implement a high voltage delivery circuit in accordance with the present invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited by the disclosed embodiments, but instead the scope of the invention is determined by the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. In an electrical defibrillator including a storage circuit coupled with a bridge circuit, the storage circuit for storing electrical energy and having first and second storage terminals, and the bridge circuit for directing the electrical energy to a patient via first and second patient terminals, the bridge circuit having first and second bridge terminals and a plurality of switches, a method of delivering electrical energy to the patient, comprising the steps of: connecting the first bridge terminal to a first reference voltage; coupling the second bridge terminal to the second storage terminal; charging the storage circuit to produce a potential difference of the first storage terminal relative to the second storage terminal; forming a conducting path through the bridge circuit and the patient; and connecting the first storage terminal to a second reference voltage and correspondingly producing a potential difference of the second storage terminal relative to the first bridge terminal.
 2. A method according to claim 1 wherein: the step of connecting the first bridge terminal to a first reference voltage includes the step of connecting the first bridge terminal to ground potential; the step of charging the storage circuit to produce a potential difference of the first storage terminal relative to the second storage terminal includes the step of charging the storage circuit to produce a positive potential difference of the first storage terminal relative to the second storage terminal; and the step of connecting the first storage terminal to a second reference voltage and correspondingly producing a potential difference of the second storage terminal relative to the first bridge terminal includes the step of connecting the first storage terminal to ground potential and correspondingly producing a negative potential difference of the second storage terminal relative to the first bridge terminal.
 3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of forming a conducting path through the bridge circuit and the patient includes the steps of: switching a first of the switches to connect the first bridge terminal with the first patient terminal; and switching a second of the switches to connect the second patient terminal with the second bridge terminal.
 4. A method according to claim 1 wherein the conducting path is a first conducting path, and further comprising the steps of: discharging electrical energy through the patient via the first conducting path; suspending the discharge of electrical energy through the patient; forming a second conducting path through the bridge circuit and the patient; and discharging electrical energy through the patient via the second conducting path.
 5. A method according to claim 4 wherein the step of forming a first conducting path through the bridge circuit and the patient includes the steps of: switching a first of the switches to connect the first bridge terminal with the first patient terminal; and switching a second of the switches to connect the second patient terminal with the second bridge terminal; and wherein the step of forming a second conducting path through the bridge circuit and the patient includes the steps of: switching a third of the switches to connect the first bridge terminal with the second patient terminal; and switching a fourth of the switches to connect the first patient terminal with the second bridge terminal.
 6. A method according to claim 4 wherein, prior to performing the step of suspending the discharge of electrical energy through the patient, the method includes the step of determining whether the potential difference of the first storage terminal relative to the second storage terminal has changed by a predetermined amount. 